We arrived back from our Silk Road adventure late Friday night. On Saturday, Emersyn was having “teen time” at the Kerry Center with Avery. They wanted to have lunch ALONE and go shopping. In typical teen fashion, they needed rides to the Kerry Center. Mr. Nie had the day off and Emersyn is not ready to take taxis on her own – I am not ready for her, either. Jim and Dan had lunch, but NOT with the girls. They enjoyed a few beers while the girls had their teen time shopping at H&M. The Kerry Center is such a safe place for them to have teen time.
Eleri and I made a cake for Jim’s birthday – it gave her something special to do while Emersyn was enjoying her teen time. Eleri did most of the making while I supervised. I also worked on the 14 loads of laundry from our trip.
Saturday night, we left the girls home alone with the Jenkins kids and the Bishop girls. The adults had a dinner out to celebrate our anniversaries. We all have September anniversaries. Faith chose a lovely new place, Mercato, on the bund. Everything was delicious! We enjoyed a drink on our deck at the end of the evening. Life is better when shared with good friends.
On Sunday, Jim’s birthday, we enjoyed a slow day at home. I continued on the loads of laundry and Jim cooked. He made his bean soup that simmers all day which fills the house with the smell of soup. He also decided he wanted to try to make the bread from Karshgar. He had the tool, a Tukche! After a trip to the wet market, he was ready to make Uyghur nan bread. The family loves it when Jim gets in cooking gear because we get to enjoy the results. The soup was fabulous, as always. The bread turned out very good. I wasn’t expecting much since he doesn’t have the fire stone oven to cook the bread.
After dinner, the girls gave Jim their homemade cards.
Emersyn’s card:
The PS – Even though you’re getting old, I love you anyway!
Eleri’s card:
Eleri cut the black letters out of paper and glued it on the paper with the hot glue gun – her favorite making tool. Regular glue would not hold as well!
They pulled party poppers for him in the hallway (to contain the mess).
Followed by the family chocolate cake made by Eleri.
We finished the evening with movie night. There are no new movies out for the girls. We have been downloading 80’s movies. Many sitcoms and other films refer back to some of the 80’s movies. We watched the orginial Foot Loose. Anytime we watch an 80’s movie, the girls laugh at the hairstyles the most.
Another birthday shared with our lovely girls – life is GOOD!